


To Heir Human

by ssa_archivist



Category: Smallville
Genre: Alternate Universe, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2002-01-01
Updated: 2002-01-01
Packaged: 2017-11-01 11:22:48
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,797
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/356157
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ssa_archivist/pseuds/ssa_archivist
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Sequel to "Double Ascension"</p>
            </blockquote>





	To Heir Human

**Author's Note:**

> This past year certainly didn't live up to my expectations. I plan on 2002 being the year I find some peace, and hopefully some love. 

## To Heir Human

by EscapeToCity

[]()

* * *

Title: TO HEIR HUMAN  
Author: EscapeToCity  
Category: Sequel to "DOUBLE ASCENSION." Alternate Universe, some information from episodes through Jitters thrown in for background, clarity use. Rating: NC-17  
Summary: Life after the Fall. Clark and the aftermath. Backwards/forwards, resolution. Hopefully this one makes sense. SLASH Spoilers: None  
Disclaimer: NONE of these characters belong to me. I am simply painting a scene for them to play in. Peace, blessings  & praise to Warner's, DC, WB & Millar/Gough. 

I really appreciate all the feedback I've received regarding this series. Thank you. I might not live in the fantasy world these characters do....but I certainly can feel through them, for them, and with them. Life never works out quite as we hope. And certainly there is as much bitter as sweet in our existence. 

Thus, may 2002 bring _hope_ back into play... 

Talk to me @ EscapeToCity@aol.com 

Best regards, 

J.B. 

* * *

Lex Luthor was gone. 

Smallville was shattered. 

Martha Kent was in shock. 

Jonathan Kent...he tried for everyone's sake to hold things together. 

Clark Kent was numb.  
He had done this.  
His rage. His pain. His love.   
His love had killed Lex. 

* * *

Lex Luthor's final wishes were carried out. 

His body was cremated. Ashes placed in the lead box given to him years before by his mother, Alexandra. 

The box was given to Clark. 

Lionel Luthor made no appearance. He was said to be out of the country. 

The service was held the first of April. 

The most tragic of April Fool's. 

A small group of people huddled around the Wayne Foundation Fountain in Locust Square. Ten people to be exact. 

Clark couldn't handle it. 

The sky was pink that morning. Clear and warm. Birds glided gently over the park. Trees, glistening with newfound green, rustled over the gathering. Squirrels played and splashed in the trickling fountain. 

Clark lay, eyes clenched, in newborn flowers. Dazed. 

Martha Kent spoke: 

"Friends....we are here to remember Lex Luthor. Lex was a young man I had the pleasure to call my _son_. Not blood, of course, but just as beloved. He was a brilliant businessman, scientist, and good friend. He didn't have the easiest of lives; people on the outside saw him as spoiled, indulged, and vain. Most people never gave Lex Luthor a chance. They judged him based on rumours, on suppositions. They never got inside his mind, his heart... Let me tell you...  
Lex Luthor was the gentlest man. He was a gentleman, in the fiercest since of the word. He was also the kindest. He had a clean heart, one that could have encompassed the entire world. I know this by the way he loved and cherished my family. He came to us as a friend and left a confidant, a partner, a son, and a brother. Much has been inferred about the darkness in this man's life. But I ask you this: are we all not stuck in darkness? Do we all not slide into shadows? Yes, indeed, we all do. What redeems us as human beings is the ability, the hope...the hope of finding people to pull us out of the rain and into the bright, benevolent sunshine. Lex Luthor helped my family pull itself into the light. We helped him find happiness. We worked together to face the challenges of this world. This cruel, gossipy, hard, jaded, vain world. Lex Luthor was once hardened, cruel, and vain. But he left this world soft and open and giddy with possibility, blessed with humility and touched by grace and love. We should all lead such lives...." 

Jonathan smiled, so proud of his wife. She had taken this entire thing so hard. She literally held Lex's heart as he weakened. She was there for his last breath.  
She rocked his dying body as he gasped for air. She held him.  
That bonds you to someone forever, he thought. 

Portrait of Lex on a table. White, crisp linen. From the summer prior. Happy. Healthy. Handsome. Smile glistening. No smirk. Just content. In love. 

That's from the day at the Palace of Arts, Clark remembers....pulling grass through his hands...dizzy... 

Clark looked transparent. My God, Jonathan thought. I didn't know he could lose weight. Clark looked like a skeleton. Ghost.  
Dead. 

Martha came down from the small podium and walked over to Jonathan. 

"Baby...that was wonderful...Lex would have been grateful." 

"I know, Jon...how's Clark?" She looked over towards the field of crocuses. Clark just lay there. Staring at the sky. Hair disheveled. Lost. 

Clark wasn't coping. 

"This is going to be a long process. We've got to just give him time." 

"Time itself might never heal Clark...he blames himself for--" 

Jonathan reached up quickly but gently and covered Martha's lips with his fingers... 

"I know....Clark knows what he's done. But damn, Martha...he can't blame himself. Both he and Lex thought they had to take desperate measures. Both of them feared the other was in danger, in pain..." 

She remembers the look on Clark's face. Utter horror. The wail he made as the EMT's wheeled Lex's body away. The way he wouldn't leave Lex. The same look he had on Lex's birthday. Protection. Devotion. He was his guardian. 

Clark had fought the coroner's deputies as they tried to gently place Lex's body on a gurney. He wouldn't let go. Lex was lying there. Clark kept talking to him. In crazed, desperate tones. Oh, God...she thought she'd drop dead herself there...it was the most horrible thing to witness...she had nearly fainted dead away when Clark began to scream, begging Lex to stay... 

Shaken, Martha begins to weep.  
Jon brings her into a tight embrace.  
They are closer now than ever. But at what a horrific price. 

"Oh, Jon...they loved each other so. The most powerful emotions I've known. Like they were one person, both so strong....both so indebted to one another for loving each other. Why them? Why weren't they allowed to fly free, Jon? Where is the fairness in all this? Where is "God"? I thought he protected true hearts? I am so angry, so devastated. This just isn't the way things are supposed to be...He's only seventeen, Jon...he's still a child in so many ways...how will he handle this?" 

The few other guests....Mr. Vanderbilt's widow, a couple of staff members from Luthor Manor, Dr. Honeydeux from Arkham, Aurora from L'Etoile, one person they didn't know (a smartly dressed lady handcuffed to a briefcase)....they filed away out of the square....each leaving a single white rose by the picture of Lex. 

Both Martha  & Jon feared Clark would try to kill himself again. They scoured his room, the Barn, the fields for green meteor rocks. Even if Lex's death didn't drive him to try it, the knowledge that he had killed all those workers in the tower might drive him to it. Our baby, a terrorist. Our baby, so desperate. Oh, Clark....poor baby... 

Nothing would ever be the same. The world had lost a person who could have saved it. Or destroyed it. 

Either way, with the death of Lex Luthor, the world lost a star. 

* * *

Clark was lost in memories.  
New.  
Old.  
There.

* * *

There. 

Lex's bloody form in his arms. Draped over his shoulder. He had tried to fly away, take Lex's body far away from all of this pain. Fly Lex to the islands he so loved, the pink sky tropics, where no one could touch them. Where Clark would never leave his side. Breathe, for me. His mother was there, begging Clark not to move. Why won't he breathe? He's gone, son. He's gone... 

Clark was just fighting and moaning, Lex's arms around his neck, trying to lift off the ground. He found he'd lost his wings. He could not rise. He'd lost flight as fast as attaining it. 

As a result, those people wrenched Lex from his arms. He found his super strength was gone. He wanted to push them back, fight them until the end of time, keep them from zipping his baby in that bag. But he couldn't. He had to watch them as they pushed him back....pushed him back...into his parents' arms.... 

And Lex couldn't breathe...and they put him in a bag... **HE CAN'T BREATHE...PLEASE OPEN THE BAG...PLEASE** **PLEASE, HE'S AFRAID....PLEASE...LET HIM HAVE SOME AIR...**

Tears. He can't remember a time he wasn't constantly crying. 

**PLEASE...OH GOD...OPEN THE BAG...HE'S CHOKING...HE NEEDS ME..**

Wailing. The coroner's people were visibly shaken. Poor kid. Must've really cared about this Luthor guy. 

Dried blood everywhere. Lex's arm hanging down from the gurney. Quickly placed over his chest. Clark yelped as he saw the arm... 

**BABY...REACH FOR ME....PLEASE...**

He reached out, trying to break free from his father's strong grip, straining to get to Lex. To get inside the bag with him and plant his lips on those red ones...to force life back into his lover's lungs. To restart his heart. 

To go back in time. To a place where Lex knew he'd survive. 

The minivan driving away. The shattered glass all around him. His parents trying to calm him. Clark just rolled his head around, ruined, broken...closed... Clark collapsed after that, spent and wasted... 

Martha and Jon had carried him outside. For a few moments they thought he, too, was gone. He was immobile. His tongue dry and hanging out. Like a dog denied water in summer heat. Jon leaned in close to his son, hearing a strong heartbeat. But his face was blank. 

They had put his baby in a plastic bag. Like trash.  
Like junk.  
My precious baby....my God what have I done to you... 

For hours Clark just stared at the sky. He wished his spaceship had burned up in the atmosphere. He wished he'd never been sent to Earth. He had destroyed love.  
He had ruined the best thing that had ever happened to him. 

Nothing his parents said could change that. 

Late that night, Clark snuck out of the house and ran to the Lowell County Hospital. His parents, exhausted by the day's events, had passed out in the loft; Jonathan holding Martha in his arms. Worried look on his face. Sadness drawn across hers. 

Clark tried to run with super speed....but found himself out of breath, burning. Tired. Losing Lex had stripped him of everything. Even his _gifts_

But what kind of gifts were they if they couldn't save the man he loved? 

Walking, sprinting. Hurting. Lost, It takes forever. Clark isn't used to speed limits.....finally there is the concrete and glass medical facility. Clark walks in. He's sweaty. Looks like he was dunked in....oh, God, that's _blood_... He's wired. People look him funny. 

He sees no one. He just walks straight ahead. To the stairwell. Down into the basement. The cool cavern of cadavers. Morgue-land. 

He finds Lex. Number 3-C. Cold steel, naked. Clark pulls Lex out. He looks yellow, faded. Clark gasps. Lex's lips are lavender.  
His eyes wide open. Staring into Clark. 

Clark begins to speak to Lex, taking the tiny _frozen_ hand in his big, warm one..... 

* * *

You hate me now. I made it so you couldn't breathe. Mom says you were shot...that the bullet killed you but you died because I wasn't there to breathe for you. Oh, fuck...Lex...please talk to me...call me a moron...call me a fucking idiot farmboy....call me names, hit me...fucking poison me, shoot me....surround me with meteor rocks...please, baby...anything...make me suffer....make me feel like you did.... All I can think about is how scared you must have been...How many times, Lexy...? How many times did you hold onto me...your fingernails digging into me, gasping for air...but before I always held you, loved you...brought you back from the edge. Why wasn't I there this time? How could I let you die like that? Goddamnit...fuck you, Lex...you weren't supposed to ever leave me you bastard....(crying hard)...how the hell can you expect me to even wake up, take a shower, eat breakfast without seeing your smirk across the table from me... How do you expect my body to function without your kiss? How do you expect me to ever have sex again? Fuck....the only person I want is you. And those other people. Lex, I fucking killed them. Cold blood. All those innocent people in the tower. I'm a butcher. And I cut my other half off in the process. 

Lex lies there, dead. 

Please, baby....wake up...oh God...fuck....please...I'm begging you...just once....for me....you are the reason I'm alive, Lex...you did everything for me....Mom showed me the papers from S.T.A.R.....you were trying to save me, baby....I love you...Oh God please...bring him back....but God doesn't include me in his people....I'm not human....I'm nothing....I have no background....You were my background, Lex. You were my present, my future. You were the reason I didn't just go down to the foundry and off myself. I used to think about it everyday, even before I found out I was a goddamned gay alien. All I wanted to do was die. You gave me a reason to smile....a reason to keep smiling, all day, every day. 

Oh please, Lexy. 

Please. Talk to me. I know I'm nuts...please baby. I woke up today and you weren't there and the bed still smelled like you. All clean and fresh and hot and I got hard. I'm sorry. I shouldn't be able to even get a woody now. But I was fucking hard because I kept thinking you would come around the corner and kiss me and say "you damn fool, Kent!" And laugh at me and hold me and lick my chest and oh, goddamn, love me.... 

I think about the bullet hitting you. Oh, baby...I'm sorry. I know it hurt. Mom said you were brave. You said you were so fucking brave. That you wanted. That you tried. That you begged. That you fought. FOR ME. She said you weren't thinking of yourself. You were fucking dying my love...all you wanted was my safety. All the while I'm bouncing off the damn roof killing the city and you're down there in my Mom's arms sealing my safety... Why wasn't I better than that? I should have sensed your pain. You got shot in the heart, baby. I should have felt it. I know it had to hurt. Mom doesn't want me to picture it. But there was blood everywhere....you must have been so scared. 

Lex lies there, dead. 

You look so cold, Lex. Let me warm you. Clark climbs onto steel panel...it creaks...but it holds the weight of the alien and the dead human. 

That's better. It's all going to be happy now, baby. I'll never leave you again. I'm here. Clark's here. You're cold. You were always so cold, Lexy. But never again. Warm and happy. Clark's here. Look at your lips...you look frostbitten. 

Insanity rears its head... 

Clark reaches out to touch Lex's mouth....traces the frosty lips....moves his fingers up, caresses the sunken cheeks...gently uses his index fingers to shut Lex's eyes. 

There...now you can sleep, baby...it's nice and dark and warm here with Clark. I'll hold you. And protect you. Forever. Just you and me, Lex. 

You're so cold.  
I'm still warm.  
My last gift I share with you. 

* * *

Jonathan  & Martha get a call the next morning from the coroner at the Morgue. They rush to County Hospital, finding Clark in the locker with Lex...the two of them zipped up together. Holding one another. A beatific smile gracing Clark's face. 

Lex rigid, bloodless.  
Clark looks happier than ever. 

They observe from the glass windows of the Coroner's office. Clark is asleep, so content. 

"My God, Jonathan!" The blood draining from her face... 

"He looks so peaceful. Damn. Damn...." Jonathan can't think of words to describe the scene. 

Dr. Petrie, the Lowell County Coroner, speaks: 

"You must get your son out of there. This is completely improper. We can't have a body being tampered with. Not to mention the sanitary issues." 

The Kents understand nothing about this is "proper." But what in life is? (Try defining proper!) 

"Look, Doc, I understand. But our son Clark has been through a lot. Lex was his best friend in the whole world and he adored him. Like a big brother. He is having an awful time dealing with this." 

"I don't give a damn, Mr. Kent. Your son needs psychiatric care, not sleepy time with the body." 

Martha speaks up...."Perhaps this is closure for him, Doctor? Perhaps this will let him know Lex really is gone..." 

"I've never heard such nonsense. Get him out of there in the next fifteen minutes or the Smallville Police will!" 

Bastard, Martha thinks.  
Prick, Jonathan thinks.  
(Good minds think alike, ya?) 

The couple looks into the vault, a mix of awe and pride coloring their expressions. Clark was raised right. He is loyal to a fault. But.....this isn't healthy. Hell fucking no. We've got to get him away from Lex's body. Clark must deal with what has happen, not live in fantasyland. 

Entering the freezing repository, Jonathan reaches out and tugs at his son's shoulder. Clark's always so warm.  
Clark stirs gently. 

"Oh...Lex...that feels nice....do you wanna play, baby...please...anything you want....I love you..." 

Jonathan winces. This is going to be a nightmare. 

"Clark. Wake up. It's not Lex. Lex is dead. It's your father, Jonathan Kent." 

Clark squeezes his eyes as if trying to ignore his father's voice. 

"Clark. Wake up, now!" 

Clark opens his eyes wearily to find the body tucked under him and his father holding his shoulder. 

"Son, Lex needs some time alone. Let's go talk somewhere, OK?" 

Clark thinks. Looks at Lex. Kisses him on the lips. 

"I'll be back, OK...just give me a few minutes with my Dad." 

Lex is dead, of course. 

"C'mon, Clark...get dressed, son." 

Jonathan is so saddened by this spectacle. His son Clark is naked, aroused, sleeping with Lex Luthor, deceased. 

My Lord, what else can happen? Just a year ago everything was different. Just a year ago it was simple. 

Then again, what exactly is simple when you are father to an alien? He couldn't fault Clark for anything.  
Not with that winning smile.  
Amazing strength.  
Warm heart. 

No, if anything, everything that had occurred just made Jonathan love his son more. 

Clark dresses. Jonathan notices he is still in the blood stained outfit from the day prior. Damn. 

"Son, your mother and I need to talk to you at the farm." 

"I can't leave Lex, you know that Dad...he's cold." 

"I know....I know he's cold...and I'm sorry..." 

"--so you see why I can't leave him..." Smiles brightly. "No one else loves him like me. Nobody else can make sure he keeps breathing. I'm his best pal, too, Dad." 

Something in that smile is manic, desperate, clinging.....Jonathan sees Clark is barely hanging on. 

"Son, we need you at the house. Please. Plus, I need some help in the fields with planting." 

"Dad, I can't leave Lex." 

"Yes you can...watch..." 

Jonathan goes out for a moment, comes back in with a space heater he'd noticed on Dr. Petrie's floor. Places it next to Lex's locker. 

Clark stares, mesmerized. 

"That'll keep him warm 'till I get back? Will it, Daddy?" Pleading. 

Jonathan gives his son a warm, strong smile. 

"Of course, Clark. Let Lex rest. Come home, son." 

"O.K....I trust you..." Clark leans down and kisses Lex on mouth, cheek, rubs his blue, bald head..."I'll be back in no time....if you have a hard time breathing just scream for me...." 

Delusions.... 

Every moment in Clark Kent's mind is war. 

**SAAAAAAAAAAAAAAVVVVVVEEE MMMMMMMEEEEEEE**

Echoes. 

The sound of metallic doors.  
The vault. 

Secrets. 

His mother's wails for help. 

Clark flashes forward.....backward.... 

His father's reassuring answers. 

Lex's harrowing, dying cry.......CLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRKKKKKKKK....... 

Clark begins shaking. Vomits green fluid all over the white flowers.... 

Lex choking. 

Scream for me. 

Die for me. 

Lick up the blood, Luthor.  
Lick it up.  
Eat it.  
Die for me, Lexy. 

Save me, Clark. Please. It's filling up. 

Pools filled with ten thousand drowning Lex Luthors. 

Kal-El. 

Clark kept seeing Lex coated in blood, thick like glue....hands outreached, smirking... 

"Thanks, Clark....thanks for killing me....I always wanted to die. You handed it to me, easy. I knew you loved me enough to kill me." 

Oh, no...please Lex...I would have done anything. I wanted to help you. Thought getting Lionel outta the way would help you. Make you happy. Stop the attacks. Save you. 

"Thanks for killing me, Clark." 

**NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!**

Clark can't tell which day is which. Every day is the same. The day he murdered innocents. The day he flew to hell. The day the world ended. The day his mother held his lover's heart. And watched it stop. 

The day he'd turned dark, Lex had found the light, and Clark had shattered their love. 

* * *

Jonathan and Martha drove Clark home from County Hospital. The entire way Clark looked out the window, happily chatting about school and the upcoming talent show. 

It was as if he didn't remember what had happened. 

Jonathan looked at Martha. She gave him a concerned look, pursing her lips, gently shaking her head. 

Jonathan desperately wanted to drive downtown, show Clark the smoldering ruins of First of Metropolis complex; perhaps if he saw the damage again he would be able to fully comprehend and handle the fact that Lex Luthor was dead. Forever. 

Somewhere "other", Lex Luthor so desperately wanted Clark to realize it as well....he had to if he were to survive. 

They pulled up to Kent Farms...Jonathan erring to Martha's negative vibe on visiting the site of apocalypse... 

Clark was smiling. Martha tried her hardest to match the smile. They entered the house. Clark hugged both his parents. Martha went out to get the paper, which both she and Jon had neglected to notice in their morning rush to the Morgue. 

Jonathan went out to check on the tractor, stopping for a quick talk with Martha on the porch.... 

"Thirty minutes, Martha...then we are sitting down with Clark. We have to lay things out for him. Get him back in the real world. I am scared as hell of this whole thing. But we have to be honest with him. He's our son." 

"I agree, whole-heartedly. I hate the thought of our boy in pain, Jon. But he's gonna hurt no matter what. And he cannot go around thinking Lex is still with us." Jon went out to the barn. 

Martha brought the paper back in, finding Clark eating peanut butter with his fingers. Hilarious. Big, clumsy hands. Hair all over the place. Sticky. So damned cute. For just a moment, she forgot all the horrors of the previous forty-eight hours. 

She put the paper on the table. She let her guard down. 

"I'm gonna go out to the garden for just a sec, Clark? Then your father and I need to talk to you. Is that alright?" 

Mouth full, grinning...."Sure." 

Martha smiles, stopping to hug Clark. He looks at her happily and beweildered at her serious demeanor. 

* * *

I'll be back with Lex this afternoon. God, I love him. He makes me feel special and wanted. Lex is my favorite person in the whole world. Well, tied with my Mom  & Dad. 

Everything's great, now. Lex is warm and I'll be back later to hold him. The world is wonderful and...  
And...  
I should look at the paper...see what movies are showing...Lex loves movies...he even said he'd take me to California someday to meet movie stars, see palm trees. I'd love to climb one of those sky dusters. Those big tall, amazing, beautiful trees. And Lex will kiss me and tell me I'm cute. And I'll believe him. 

Clark reaches for paper.  
He flips the six-section parcel over.  
It seems unusually thick.  
He stares at the front   
page. 

**SMALLVILLE: GROUND ZERO**  
 **SMALLVILLE ATTACKED**  
 **DEATH, MAYHEM, HORROR AS DOZENS FOUND DEAD** **FALLEN HEIR LEX LUTHOR, 23, AMONG THE DEAD** **METROPOLIS BANKER ALSO KILLED**  
 **MADNESS AND DESPAIR FILL CITY**  
 **NEW TOWER DESTROYED; LIONEL LUTHOR SAYS "WE WILL REBUILD!"** **SMALLVILLE WILL RISE! SAYS MAYOR**  
 **TERRORISM SUSPECTED**  
 **POSSIBLE LUTHORCORP CONNECTION TO BOMBS**

**FALLEN HEIR LEX LUTHOR, 23, AMONG THE DEAD**

"Alexander "Lex" Luthor, 23, was among those killed in yesterday's massive series of explosions downtown. Mr. Luthor, former heir to the billion-dollar LuthorCorp fortune...born June 23, 1979 to the late British stage actress Alexandra Lord and coporate hawk Lionel Luthor, Mr. Luthor led a life of drama and scandal, often tinged with tragedy and sorrow...." 

**FALLEN HEIR**

**LEX**

**LEX**

**DEAD**

**FALLEN**

"You'd never let me fall, would you Kent...?" 

**DEAD**

"I'll keep you alive, Lex...I promise. 

**LEX**

"I love you, Clark...always..." 

**DOZENS FOUND DEAD...**

**LEX...**

Martha hears a series of crashes from the garden. Sounds like glass.  
Clark.  
Oh, Clark.  
Hold on. 

"Jonathan!" she screams loudly...."The house, Jonathan! Go to the house!" 

Jonathan, blood racing, sprints back towards the house. 

There, in the kitchen is Clark. 

Every pane of glass is cracked or broken. Clark's scream was so high human ears could not register it....Dogs, however, went wild all the way to Metropolis. Sanity floods him...  
Reality stings him.  
Powers rush back.  
He is alive.  
Lex is dead. 

Martha reaches to touch him. 

"Don't touch me, Mom....please...I don't want you to die." 

"Clark you'd never hurt me. Don't say that!" 

Clark's eyes washed by tears, by years of sadness, returning (Lex was the band-aid, the salve, to those years of being the freak....the loser...the geek....the moron....) 

"Mom...I loved him...I held him...I made love to him....and he died...I touched him and he died..." 

"Lex lived because you touched him, baby. He relied on you. He loved you. Your touch made him complete and full and confident and strong. Your touch is what Lex Luthor lived for, every day, in every step he took there was your mark." 

"No, Mommy...Lex died because of what I did to the building. The bombs...I killed innocents...so God took Lex away from me...." 

Jonathan runs in. Watches Martha. Loves her for loving he and Clark so much, so well. 

Martha runs her fingers through Clark's hair. 

"Clark...I will not excuse your behavior regarding that building...you have done something horrible...those people didn't work for Lionel or Dominic; they weren't involved. You should have told us you were so on edge..." 

"I was so s-s--cared...that you might throw me out...or be frightened of me yourself. I had to be secret...like Lex always was...secret....I thought I could handle everything." 

"Baby, murder is not a way to fix things....EVER! Do you hear me, Clark? I love you too much to watch you do bad things. You are meant to bring hope to this world, you big beautiful son of mine. Don't ever lurk in shadows. They will destroy you." 

Crying...."Mommy I feel so bad....I do...I didn't want to do bad things...I was trying to protect Lex...his lungs....were ...going out...I panicked..." 

"We're here for you to talk to baby....we're your parents...if you were so worried about Lex you should have come to us...but, no matter...both you and Lex were simply trying to express your love....god....if only..." 

"What...if only what?" 

"Nothing, Clark...I'm not sure anything could have stopped what happened. Both of you were in over your head....but, Clark, don't ever regret that part...the love, the way you would do anything to help the man you love. That speaks volumes about your compassion and ability to protect. You are one hell of a son, Clark. You have made me cry but more than that, you have made me proud." 

Martha is anything but angry. But she will not have Clark weakened by all this tragedy. She wants her son to grow from this, learn from his mistakes. Jonathan watches, awed by her power.... 

"Do you understand me, Clark?" 

"I still...I still think God is punishing me...." 

"Baby....God doesn't work that way. Things just happen. Sometimes horrible, ugly things where people are hurt. But Lex dying wasn't punishment for your misdeeds. Lex would probably have gotten shot whether or not the tower had been bombed. Those people...Lionel's people...they trapped him, Clark...it was a set-up. Poor Lex and Mr. Vanderbilt were trying to help people, save the bank, LuthorCorp employees--" 

"Don't forget me, Mom....Lex died trying to save me. He knew they would cut me." 

"Yes, damnit....so don't sit here pitying yourself. Lex gave you a gift, baby. Lex gave you the gift of freedom. The gift to live a life without fear. Without S.T.A.R. or Lionel or anyone else following you, taping you, kidnapping you, killing you. He lived and died so you could go forward." 

Cassandra's visions. Clark was here to help people. 

Clark cries, but tears of pride. Lex Luthor loved him so much he went into danger. For him. Remembers holding him, so close. Completely welded to one another. In synch. In like. In love. 

"Clark...Lex's last moments were spent thinking of you. Hoping you'd be happy. He begged me to watch over you. He wanted so badly to stay." 

"Why d-d-d-idn't he...Mommy....I just hurt...there's a hole in my heart...just like Lex...." 

"I know..." pulling him close, into her arms..."I know, baby....there's a hole in my heart, too...and your Dad's....we all loved him so...." 

"Will it ever fill in?" 

Martha thought about her answer, carefully selecting her words: 

"I don't think we want it to fill in, Clark. That blank spot will always remind us of how large a part of our lives Lex was. It will serve as a place to reflect on him, his impact. It won't always hurt to remember him; someday that hurt will transform into joy...like a butterfly, Clark. Like a marvelous butterfly, set free from the cocoon....for long summer days in the sun." 

She pulled Jonathan in for a family hug. And tears. And memories. Because there would never be another Lex Luthor, that was for certain. 

Clark pictured Lex, looking healthy and strong, smiling at the three of them. He wondered if Lex could hear him when he gently whispered, with love and reverence, 

"I love you, Lex. Someday I will come to you, look in your eyes. Love is forever, love never dies. Someday we'll find that cathedral in paradise..." 

On another level, Lex heard Clark's magnificent promise....I hear you, Clark.... 

Jon  & Martha embraced. The road would be long until things were even _close_ to normal. Clark had a lot of soul searching to do. He was still fragile. Guilt was still fresh there, in that handsome face. They prayed no one could connect him to the bombs. But whatever happened, they would face it, the three of them unified. 

And no one would ever forget how Lex Luthor brought them closer. 

* * *

Late that night, Clark reached over to the box. 

It was so heavy. Beautiful detailing on the lead. Lex has once told him it belonged to some religious person, a knight or something. 

Clark opened it.  
There was Lex.  
Alone. A pile. Clark had an idea.  
He hoped his parents would understand. 

He breathed in the essence of his best friend. 

He inhaled strongly and _Lex_ was swept up into Clark, ash/body/soul/memory/love....all the physical/emotional wonders of Alexander Luthor forever imprinted on the lungs of Clark Kent. 

Damn, Lex, even your ashes taste good....Clark got hard and suddenly wanted to jerk off....Laughed/cried. Clark licked his lips, wiped his face to make sure he hadn't missed any of Lex. 

Now we will always be together, literally. 

I love you. 

At long last, Lex, we are one....and no one can destroy this fortress of love. 

Now I am always holding you, inside me. We live as one. 

Reunion. 

* * *

Eyes close. Sleep comes for Clark Kent, at last. I'm breathing with you, baby.   
With you. 

* * *

In a well-appointed office a woman sits, poring over legal documents. She can't comprehend what has happened to one of her favorite and most reliable clients. 

Things like that don't happen to people I like, darling... 

But she has grieved thoroughly, done the rosary, and now it is time for business. He left her specific instructions. She looks out onto the streets of Zurich. Spring is just arriving. Melting snow. 

Renewal. Rebirth. The future. 

She finally finds what she has been looking for. Ahh, yes.... 

**THE LAST WILL AND TESTAMENT OF ALEXANDER LEONARD LUTHOR** **REVISED MARCH 1, 2003.....**

She reads over the document, checking every detail. 

Yes. It's all here, darling. Everything's legal. Yes, of course. He was always so thorough.  
The cable he sent me on the fifteenth last month. What genius. No one, save that wretched Loew, found out about our transactions... And that S.O.B. is six feet under...  
Good riddance. Messing with a good man like Lex. So refined. What a sexy, classy man....what a horror. He'd been shot....damn...she always warned him to wear a vest....you have to in their world...you never know who fucking hates you...You never who has a cocked gun aimed for your pocket. That poor boy. She had never gotten to meet them when Lex was alive. She wondered how he was dealing....so young. And so beautiful. So special, as well.....you're secret is safe as well, young man....very safe....she glanced at a drawer containing pictures, tapes, DVD...all of one certain farmboy.... She checks her watch...it's still early in Smallville. Still too early to call the boy's parents. As of noon today....your dream is his reality, my fair Lex.....happy trails, darling....I know he loved you.... 

Well, Clark Kent...perhaps this will help you to survive.... 

You've just inherited $400 million dollars. 

Champagne dreams, heir Clark.... 

(Love is forever, Love never dies) 

**END**  
of "To Heir Human" 

Clark's story will continue... 


End file.
